IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT….

We know you’re keen to hear about plans for our next Festival and we thank you for your amazing loyalty and support.

As you will be aware, the success of each event takes a huge amount of dedicated planning and preparation. Having reached the dizziest of heights working with Sweet Marta, Eddie Martin, Dennis Greave and Mark Feltham in 2024 we’re taking a break in 2025. We will return fully refreshed in 2026.

So sadly no harmonica shenanigans in Brighton & Hove in 2025, but we hope this notice enables you to attend alternative events this time round. We’d strongly recommend visiting the Broadstairs Blues Bash 21st-23rd Feb 2025.

We will of course miss everybody in the meantime. We do hope you can join us in 2026, which will be all the more fun, and we look forward to making many more musical memories in your company.

With very best wishes,

Richard Taylor, Stuart McKay and all the HBTS Team

Looking back at HBTS 2024…

We enjoyed yet another historic Saturday night blow out with the Mark Feltham and Dennis Greaves Duo (UK), Sweet Marta Suñé (Spain) with The Blues Deluxe Band, and Eddie Martin (UK). Our guest artists will also attend our afternoon Q&A session.

To borrow from a famous advertising slogan, we like to think we reach the parts that other harmonica festivals can’t reach. Which is quite a claim. But we’re confident you saw what we mean when you experienced the agenda at HBTS 2024.

HBTS 2024 Official Poster
HBTS 2024 Schedule Times
HBTS 2024 Official Programme

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Looking back at HBTS 2023…
Another huge thank you to all our artists, sponsors, attendees and crew for the fantastic return to our live format at HBTS 2023. We enjoyed another sell-out event, we welcomed Mark Hummel back to the UK for the first time in over twenty years, held our first Trade Expo, and raised £735 for our chosen charity, Wishing Well Music, providing bedside music therapy for children in critical care.

In addition, we launched our first ever Harmonicas for Health workshop and symposium, which proved to be a popular and humbling new feature to the event programme. Visit our YouTube Channel to enjoy coverage of our HBTS 2023 artists and activities. 

From HBTS 2023… Early on Friday morning our Festival Producer, Richard Taylor, launched proceedings in the company of BBC Radio Sussex’s roving reporter Hanna Neter.

Hanna was challenged by Breakfast Show host Alison Fearns to learn and perform her first ever harmonica tune live on air. Richard and Hanna duly got to work and within half an hour Hanna was playing When The Saints Go Marching In. You can listen to all the shenanigans right here…

Following our ground breaking online festival in 2021, when we celebrated 10 years of harmonica history with a review of our stunning past guest artists, HBTS took a year off in 2022. HBTS was back live in 2023 however, with its twelfth fantastic festival and another stunning programme of workshops, guests artists, trade sponsors, kids workshop and an afternoon blues jam. We were also delighted to announce our inaugural Harmonicas For Health workshops and symposium directed by Christ Startup, and the return of our world famous prize charity raffle!

Please contribute to our event fund here
Please donate whatever you can to our event fund by clicking here or on the target logo at the side. Money raised goes to our artists, our charity appeal and also facilitates future HBTS events.

A breath of fresh air…
And here’s a retrospective on some of the shenanigans HBTS has been up to in recent years. Here we are on BBC Radio 4‘s harmonica documentary Suck It And See.

And a reminder of the special message that Paul Jones of Manfred Mann broadcast on his weekly BBC Radio 2 blues hour for HBTS 2016…

 Missed the party or just need another hit?
You can catch up as we roll out footage of Harpin’ By The Sea 2021 on YouTube. Please note this process is engineered voluntarily and we thank you for your patience as it takes shape. You can check everything out at Harpin’ By The Sea’s own Channel and at Russ Turner’s Oxharp Channel.